Episode 193 - Q & A: Why is the Pentateuch a Pentateuch?

Episode Summary

In this Podcast, I explain how the first, foundational part of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, called in Hebrew Torah, was five books instead of four or six.  Some have argued that this foundational part of the Bible should be a Hexateuch—that is, the first six books—because the promise of land is so prominent in Genesis and Joshua (the 6th book) describes Israel’s getting the land.  Others have argued that the Torah is a Tetrateuch, or the first 4 books, because the vocabulary and outlook of Deuteronomy is replete in Joshua through 2 Kings, but is not found in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.  Despite these hypotheses, the canonizing community made sure that the Torah was five books.  In effect, they took the first book of the Deuteronomistic History (Deuteronomy) and made it the last book of Torah.  Why did they do that?  Because the Torah ended when Israel did not have the land, the monarchy, or the temple, the very situation they experienced in the Exile.  It was in that period that decisions had to be made about how to “shape” Scripture.

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